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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23529034">Journey of Phantasia: The Changeling (Short Story)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/OrgroWritingStuff/pseuds/OrgroWritingStuff'>OrgroWritingStuff</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Journey of Phantasia [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Journey of Phantasia</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Adventure, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Enemies to Friends, F/M, Fantasy, Fantasy Adventure, Fantasy Violence, Fictional Religion &amp; Theology, Gen, Historical Fantasy, JoP-Freeform, Journey of Phantasia - Freeform, Low Fantasy, Magic, Magical Realism, Major Original Character(s), Mythical Beings &amp; Creatures, Mythology - Freeform, Mythology References, Norwegian Mythology &amp; Folklore, Original Character(s), Reference To Other Story, Science Fiction &amp; Fantasy, Wandless Magic, Wizards, sword and sorcery</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 15:20:20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>10,366</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23529034</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/OrgroWritingStuff/pseuds/OrgroWritingStuff</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>During their trek to the Gnome-court in the frost-covered province of Skiptingr, Ayan and his friends are forced to seek shelter from a sudden snowstorm, and end up having to deal with more than just the cold alone. A race against the clock begins as they try to uncover the true identity of a suspicious child before it's too late...</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Albedo/Ben Tennyson, Ayan Dragonsbane &amp; Albedo, Ayan Dragonsbane &amp; Bayo, Ayan Dragonsbane &amp; Lousine of Eldivar, Ayan Dragonsbane &amp; Vuraria, Ayan Dragonsbane/Lousine of Eldivar, Ayan Dragonsbane/Vuraria, Lousine of Eldivar &amp; Albedo</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Journey of Phantasia [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1573519</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Borti</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Took me a while to make this one. Still in the making, by the way. I had trouble opening Ao3 as of late. But now I'm back. Hope you like this one!<br/>I could use some feedback.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Bad weather taking the shape of a white cloudy storm had caused the group to search for shelter, before they would get engulfed by the thick snow. The group followed a curdling road of gravel between and through the fields. On the sides of the road were waypoints, large rocks buried in the ground and just now buried under the snow as well. Sometimes only a tip of the stone protruded from the earth. </p><p>The road kept dragging them further and further to the lands near the chain of mountains that separated North-and South-Phantasia.</p><p>"Sword-Mountains." Said the wizard. "We're close to the Troll-Mountains as well." He had a coarse, rough voice. He squinted his eyes and put the cap of his mantle deeper over his face, to not get blinded by the endless snow. The wizard wiped some of the snow off of his prickly hay-coloured beard and stuck his fingerless-glove-covered hands deeper into the pockets of his coat. </p><p>"I would prefer to not seek shelter there."</p><p>"I think they would prefer it if you didn't seek shelter there as well, I think. When they see your face..." The dragon-girl with the black hair and the sun-kissed skin laughed at her own joke. The wizard did not. He stomped through the dust-like snow in front of him and followed the barely-seen road onward. The road forked two ways:</p><p>The road to the left lead to a hill, on which a strong village was seemingly built. The road on the right was barely seen. But where it was visible, it was awfully close to the Troll-Mountains...</p><p>"If you want, I can call them for you. Let's see who will laugh then... Foolish child." The wizard snarled. He tilted his head down and his yellow eyes, like that of a hawk, stared at the not-so-distant mountains where the trolls lived. The dragon-girl was not impressed. "Did they ever nibble on old leather, then?" She laughed at her joke again and from nowhere, the air around her rustled and a black, wooly coat that looked very much like her own hairs appeared around her shoulders.  The wizard growled, his hands trembled... </p><p>"Can we at least try to keep it civil, please? That is what you'd both promised, before we departed." Said the princess, in a gentle but strict voice. She adjusted her coat of white fur so that it was tighter around her shoulders, to not grow cold. Even still, her face was red from the cold climate. She sniffed and dabbed her nose with a handkerchief she had brought from home.</p><p>"Yeah, sure, sure... Fine." The dragon-girl tried not to pay attention to the princess. "I can't ever do anything fun. Horribly boring, you two are." She continued her song of complaints. The princess walked in front of her, and the wizard walked in front of them both. He paved the way, and at the fork he stopped. </p><p>The wizard rubbed his hands and blew against them. Hot air escaped through his fingers and ascended to the cold heavens above, where it clumped, slowly, before it turned into a small cloudy pillow. He seemed completely focussed on the little pillow above him. </p><p>"Skiptingr." He grumbled, and the little heap of clouds flew, against the wind and between the falling snow. The wizard pointed at his little cloud-pillow, that remained still in the air until they arrived. </p><p>"Shelter is that way. It might be close to the trolls but with a little luck we will only be here for a few days." The wizard explained. The princess nodded and continued to walk towards the left, to the village on the hill. </p><p>The dragon-girl just huffed. </p><p>"We can also just fly away, you know?"</p><p>The wizard turned around within a second, crossing his arms like an angry child. </p><p>"Fly on your own. In this weather you won't even last for a minute." And the dragon-girl huffed once more, out of discontent this time. Small flames spewed out of her nose, and the hue in her eyes turned redder and angrier. Gleaming black scales started to form on her arms and her face...</p><p>"On top of that, the only way for us to find the kingdom of the Gnomes, is on foot. No matter how low we may fly, they will not show themselves to dragons." Added the wizard. Not one feature changed on his strict face. Now the dragon-girl was starting to get furious..."You filthy old dirty dried-up..."</p><p>She spoke no more words when, from behind her, a boy jumped off of his horse and walked besides her, putting an arm around her shoulder. The boy, who beforehand hadn't said anything, began talking in a crude way like a farmhand would, and started to laugh loudly. "Vuraria, come on. You're taking this too personally." The boy gently pushed his forehead against hers, after which the dragon-girl started to blush. "When the snow lies down, we'll have a snowball-fight, yeah? But now I'm hungry, and so I'll eat! Preferably over there! Maybe that'll rid Albedo of his grumpy mood as well!" He gave the wizard a friendly punch against his arm and climbed back onto his wooly horse, speeding after the princess. "Lousine, wait for us!"</p><p>Albedo, the wizard, and Vuraria, the dragon-girl, gave each other a silent, but embarrassed look while the boy sped away on his horse. Then they gave each other a forced grin and followed swiftly, both not wanting to get lost in the snowstorm. "Ayan! At least wait for us!"</p><p>Skiptingr. The last settlement before the wild-lands of the trolls. To call it a city would be an exaggeration. It better resembled an overgrown village, with a big, strong wall of rocks around it. Skiptingr was built on a hill, but all its buildings were half-dug into the ground, much like the rocks along the road. Only the roofs of the buildings stuck out. Roofs made of what little wood and reeds were found in the area.</p><p>That's how Skiptingr's residents remained somewhat warmer in the seemingly eternal cold of the taiga around them. But they, the people, were fierce, firm and cold like the weather. They still had some degree of hospitality, with what little they had, but far from much. Hunger and cold did that to people.</p><p>The group stepped under the open-standing gate. More smaller stones were placed around the gate. These had things carved into them, symbols, and from the gate hung an iron bell. The bell had the carving and the crude colouring of a golden sun. Albedo, who was the last to walk under the gate, got the chills when he passed the bell.</p><p>"What's that for, Albedo?" Ayan asked from the back of his horse. Princess Lousine, who had gotten tired from walking, side-saddled behind him. "That bell with the sun on it, what's it for?"</p><p>Albedo snorted and hurried along until he walked at their side. Vuraria walked behind them in an irritated manner, twirling curls into the locks of her black-fur-coat.</p><p>"That is a tool to scare off trolls. They hate the sound of a ringing bell. The symbols on those stones are runes. Together, they provide a sort of charm that repels evil... Allegedly." Spoke Lousine before Albedo had even opened his mouth. But the wizard did not seem to get mad. He looked more impressed than anything. Ayan raised an eyebrow. "How do you know that?" He gently pulled the reins on his horse Bayo when they stood in the town-square. Curious yet suspicious eyes already began to observe them from between the houses.</p><p>Lousine looked away as if it was nothing, and quickly readjusted her coat. "Oh... I simply read it in a book." She gently hopped off of Bayo's back, with which she was helped by Albedo, and looked around once she had solid ground under her feet. Ayan only looked at her in wonder. "I thought they only hated sunlight..."Now Albedo sounded a laugh. "Where do you think the golden sun is for?"</p><p>"Oooooooh!" Ayan exclaimed loudly, as he jumped off of Bayo and rubbed his neck as a reward for the long trek. Ayan was a quickly-distracted boy. "Good job, buddy." But Bayo was hungry, and so was Ayan. He looked at the others as he took the reins into his hand. "Where, umm, where will we go for food?"</p><p>"You dim-witted boy, we are looking for that as well." Albedo replied, and his mood was turned all the more sour when he saw that Vuraria was nowhere to be found. "And where did she go?"</p><p> </p><p>During Albedo's bickering-spree, Lousine had gotten up and left to step towards the first local she could find, to ask where she and her friends could find shelter for the night. But, "No room." was all she got in response. Perhaps they didn't know they had a princess in their midst, while most of Phantasia had never seen her in person. Or maybe all rooms for people outside of Skiptingr were indeed full. Whichever of the two it was, Lousine didn't know, but from every villager she received the same, two-worded response;"No room."</p><p>Irritated, she walked back to the group, and let out a short, sharp sigh. She put her hands on her sides and started frowning. It was something she did at home when things did not go to her liking. It was something she could do well. Because when she did, things would go her way. Often, but not always.</p><p>"And? Nothing?" Asked Ayan. He blew puffs of warm smoke from his mouth while he grabbed some feed for Bayo out of the saddlebag. "Hm." was all Lousine said. She shook her head and frowned still. "That sucks... Will we go to the trolls, then?" Ayan looked past Bayo's back to the long, dark row of mountains that stretched raggedly past the horizon. He could've sworn that somewhere there, tucked away deep, he could hear the faint roar of... Something.</p><p>"If I beat enough of them we can make a bed!" Ayan turned back to Lousine and lightly crouched down. He balled one hand and pounded it into the palm of the other.</p><p>"Unfortunately for you, Ayan, not every problem requires an aggressive solution." Albedo murmured. He took the cap from his head since the storm was dying down, and one golden ring in his left-ear glimmered in the light. "Leave the housing to me." He then departed, walking between the houses while constantly rubbing his hands.</p><p>"Your talk is confusing." was the only thing Ayan could say at that. Eat, sleep, and then pound some trolls into a pulp, that was what he wanted. He once again reached into the saddlebag and took out a crunchy loaf of bread. He broke it into two and wanted to give one half to Lousine, but she refused. She looked at him, frowning twice as hard as before. "Don't tell me you stole that from the royal kitchens, please." Ayan stared at her wide-eyed before carefully putting the half of bread back in the saddlebag, before Bayo had a chance to devour that too.</p><p>Lousine had already given Ayan a preach-and-a-half when Albedo finally returned. Only now, he carried a little smirk across his face. He moved a hand through his bristly beard and waited until the princess was done talking about how stealing, especially when it happened to nobles, was bad. Albedo couldn't help but find Ayan's worried face very amusing.</p><p>"I was hungry, and- and I thought..." Ayan quickly looked up as his old wizard-friend approached, and he hurried and hid behind the tall, far older man. Ayan was only a little more than fourteen winters old, and Albedo was far beyond the 300, if anyone knew how to protect him from the princess' preachings it'd be him! "Help." He pleaded.</p><p>Albedo smirked even more and moved another hand over his beard. "I have found a place for us to stay for the night... And for that frump of a shape-shifter, may she show up."</p><p>"That is excellent news." Said Lousine, cordial and kind. She glared at Ayan every time he dared to show his curly head behind Albedo's back. A few of his burnt-black locks were stuck to his face out of fear.</p><p>"And where would that place be, Albedo?" Lousine asked.</p><p>"They're not trolls, right?" Ayan added to the question. He was more comfortable being with the trolls than with Lousine as of now.</p><p>Albedo nudged the boy with his elbow. "Quiet. It is a couple, a young family of reindeer-shepherds and their baby. We can stay there in exchange for-..."</p><p>"Is it a troll-baby?" Ayan asked, now more scared than before.</p><p>Now Albedo was starting to get annoyed. Lousine, on the other hand, seemed to find this funny. "Be quiet for once! In exchange for a spell or two we can remain there for a couple of days, until the point that we gathered enough supplies to head to the kingdom of Gnomes. It's only a few day's travel from here... If you don't consider the snow. Leave the spell-business to me, your responsibility is-" Ayan wiped away the hairs in front of his face. "But what if those trolls-"</p><p>Albedo's face turned red and sour. He furiously turned to Ayan and shouted: "ONE MORE WORD ABOUT THOSE TROLLS AND I WILL SEND YOU THERE MYSELF, AYAN!"</p><p>Lousine ducked away behind Bayo, who only looked up and whinnied. He'd seen worse.</p><p>At first this was funny, but an angry wizard only brought misfortune with him. The villagers of Skiptingr quickly retreated into their houses, even faster so when the snow began falling once more.</p><p>Ayan quickly scampered away from behind his old friend and hopped onto Bayo's back. "Where- Where do they live? And where's Vuraria, by the way?"</p><p>The three of them looked up when a big, cawing silhouette descended from the snow-dotted sky, and landed on Ayan's head. The feathers of the bird, a raven, were black and pointy, almost like scales.</p><p>"Here I am!" Said the Vuraria-raven. Being a shapeshifter had its perks.</p><p>"Did you miss me?"</p><p>The house was cozy and warm. It had a stable that was built in one half, while the family lived in the other. Some of the reindeer stood in the stable, and Bayo was allowed to stand there as well. He had a merry time between the antler-bearing hoof-beasts. On the inside it resembled an upside-down, musky ship. It looked like a regular old sod hut from the outside. A big one, though. The reindeer needed a place.</p><p>The house had no separate walls inside, so everything happened in one big room. Multiple beds were placed at the sides of the walls, and in the middle of the room a heap of red coals burned in a fireplace, on top of which a black kettle of hot soup stood.</p><p>Ayan, Albedo, Lousine and Vuraria sat with the couple and ate their soup at the table besides the fireplace. Albedo and Lousine were the ones who put the most effort into keeping a polite conversation, but Ayan slobbered down his soup like a beast. He wiped his mouth on the leather braces he had from an earlier adventure. "Do you have more soup?"</p><p>Lousine, in the meantime, asked curiously about the life of the working people. What they produced, what their relation was with the other provinces, what they traded, et cetera. And the couple answered the young princess' questions as openly and honestly as possible. They were luckily not the fiercest, firmest and coldest around.</p><p>Uvitende, for that was the man's name, told her that Skiptingr traded runes, spruce-wood , reindeer... And troll-hides. Those were exchanged to neighbour-provinces like Ravinac and Lammerten for things like messenger ravens, alcohol, and the like.</p><p>Ikna, his wife, added that the cold and the storms made travel hard, so trade was pretty much at a standstill. Lousine made note of this in a sketchbook she brought along. This was something she had to discuss back at home.</p><p>While the couple discussed with Albedo the spells he would use for them, Vuraria took a stroll around the oversized hut out of boredom. Ayan started slobbering down his third bowl of soup.</p><p>"What a boring place..." She mumbled and sighed, stepping around the walls with her hands behind her back. "Could use some decorations. Something exotic." She'd turned back to her humanoid form before they stepped in, with slight persuasion on Albedo's side, for he had insisted that that type of magic was not wanted here.</p><p>Antlers hung from wooden plaques on the wall. Here and there, a plank was hammered against it, and a bundle of dried, well-smelling grasses laid on top. "Boring too."She passed some closets, a few canes for herding the reindeer, another antler, and a crib.And in that crib...</p><p>Vuraria let out a deafening screech.</p><p>That was the ugliest baby she had seen in her entire life.</p><p>The pudgy, hairy beast had a green-brown skin, and in-between the tufts of the thick black hair on its head Vuraria spotted some little sprouting stumps. It had thick, round claws with little dirty nails instead of hands and feet, and a donkey-like tail swished between the beast's stubby legs. The mouth resembled that of a bull-dog, with dull little fangs sticking out of the lower jaw, and when it opened its eyes Vuraria could see that they were a bright yellow.</p><p>The baby was currently sucking on a teat, that was attached to a wooden cup. It looked at Vuraria for one moment, and Vuraria looked back at the monster-baby, and the monster-baby suddenly started crying as loud as it could. It resembled the squeals of a boar in a battle to the death, more than the cry of a regular baby. Vuraria pressed her hands against her ears, and yelled "What even IS that thing?!" </p><p>Ikna hurried to the crib and lifted the baby up, holding it against her chest. She cradled the monstrous thing and put the cup with the teat back into its mouth. That stopped the squealing, and it continued to drink from the cup with feral eyes closed.</p><p>"That is our Bortbyting. Call him Borti. Isn't he a cutie?" Uvitende said, out loud. He sounded proud of it as well! Albedo stepped towards the crib to see the baby with his own eyes, and was flabbergasted. He had no words for this. "That is..." But more he did not say. He rubbed his hands and excused himself. Then he walked outside. That was a suspicious sign. That only happened when Albedo knew something that nobody else knew.</p><p>"He is always a little cranky after he's just ate. Isn't that right, Borti?" Ikna stroked the disgusting head of the vile little baby, that dropped the cup and tried biting her.</p><p>"A cheeky one you are." She even laughed at it! Ikna returned Borti to the crib, grabbed the cup from the floor and walked back to the kettle. She gave Ayan a weird look.</p><p>He had flipped one of the benches in shock, and hid behind it with his sword at the ready.</p><p>Lousine attempted to erase a rough line out of her sketchbook. Borti's screaming had scared her too. Albedo was still outside. Vuraria stayed at the far end of the house on one of the beds, knees pulled up and her terrified eyes pin-pointed at Borti's crib. A growl left the crib from time to time, and then she shivered and pushed herself even further into the corner. Ayan sat next to her, plucking the string of his crossbow.</p><p>"If it does even one thing to you, I'll..."</p><p>"You'll what? Borti just didn't want to be disturbed. He's a grouch sometimes, believe me, but he's still a big sweetheart." Ikna said as if nothing was wrong, while she calmed the huffing and stomping reindeer. Bayo was eating hay like nobody's business. He had heard enough scary shrieks to not be startled by this one.</p><p>"Sweetheart?" Vuraria suddenly yelled. "That... THING tried to eat me!" She breathed very fast and it took her a while, with some help from Ayan, until she calmed down. If she could turn into a mouse at this very moment to leave this place she would have done so in a heartbeat.</p><p>Uvitende laughed about this. "He wanted to play, you mean."At last, Albedo walked back inside. He was covered in snow, and a bright golden light shimmered in his eyes. He looked at Vuraria, Ayan, and Lousine. "My apologies for this being so sudden. I have to tell you three something."</p><p>"That thing is wrong. It just can't be their child... It can't." Vuraria said, in a husky voice, while they hid from the snow in a cattle-shack at the edge of Skiptingr. She held Ayan tight, who supported her with his arm. Ayan looked at Albedo, curious what he'd tell them."Well, what is it? Trolls?"Albedo looked strict, and concerned. "Yes. You were right. It is a troll, no doubt about it." He blew air into his hands to keep them warm. The shack was empty, and the very little hay that was in it wasn't enough to keep them warm, but he had to make sure they were out of eavesdropping-distance from the couple... And the monster-baby.</p><p>"But why won't the parents interfere? Are they trolls as well?" Lousine asked, while she made more notes in her sketchbook. She sketched the little monster, and it looked almost identical...</p><p>"That's the funny part." Said Albedo. Vuraria began to sob. "There's NOTHING! FUNNY! ABOUT THIS!" She hissed, and wiped her tears away with her hand. She truly was frightened of that little monster, despite how tough she appeared. Ayan gave her some comforting pats on her arm. The fact that he was right gave him a big grin on his face. "I'll beat that thing down. Then we'll throw it back to its parents and then we-" - "AYAN!" Lousine called out, strict as she could be. "As little killing as possible, you promised!" Ayan stayed quiet, and kept comforting Vuraria.</p><p>Albedo growled. It sounded through the entire shack, and everyone fell silent. "Now if I may..." He moved a hand through his beard and cleared his throat. "I know what that baby is doing there. I know what it is. It's a phenomenon, and I'm not surprised that it's happening in this very corner of the land." He leaned forwards as he said this, and two of the three children curiously leaned forward with him. They wanted to know... But Vuraria? Not so much.</p><p>The low, rolling call of a deep horn outside. They looked up. Were those the trolls?</p><p>"I have put the puzzle together." Grumbled Albedo, once the fear had died down and the attention was centred back at him. "That baby is not a normal one, we know this." - "Wooooow, the mastermind has solved that riddle! Fantastic!" Vuraria sobbed, back in her angry tone. She was not in the right mood for this.</p><p>Albedo frowned, and he shook his head. He shook his head. "That thing... Is called a Changeling. It happens when a troll-couple steal a human child, and exchange it for their own." Lousine looked up with appal stricken on her face. "Why... Would they do something like that?"Albedo once again shook his old head. "Nobody knows for certain. Maybe the trolls turn the human-child into a troll, or maybe they eat it. But, mostly, it simply never gets found again. The Changeling, however..."</p><p>A sound of fear shared between the three children. Albedo only smiled, but no joy could be read from his eyes. "A changeling is like the cuckoo-bird, only then it uses its troll-magic to not be discovered, so for the parents it looks just like a regular child. It will eat like a horse but never grow, and never talk but always growl and squeak, at least, until the human child has been forgotten. And when it out-grows the crib...""No..." Stammered the princess. Her unspoiled mind did not want to hear this.</p><p>Albedo said nothing but opened his mouth and pointed into it with one long finger. Then he grinned.</p><p>Vuraria let out a hellish scream and smashed her arms around in fear, and Ayan had to try really hard to make sure she wouldn't panic again.</p><p>"A-And then?""Then the beast returns to where its parents are. They know where to find each other because of something in their head. Maybe it's magic, or maybe just instinct." Albedo tapped his forehead and then gently removed a spider from his hair. "Oh, hello."Ayan slapped the spider away from him. He didn't like spiders. "And when it has found its home back, it finds a troll-partner, and the whole story starts over." Finished Albedo.</p><p>Lousine had dropped her booklet in shock. "That's... Horrid!" Ayan nodded and patted Vuraria clumsily over her hair in an attempt to calm her down.</p><p>"Yeah, umm... What do we do against it?" Ayan asked. "Can we even do anything against it?" - "How did the trolls even get past the gate, with the runes and everything?" Lousine added.</p><p>Albedo simply raised his shoulders. "Who's to say? Magic? An influence from the outside? Maybe they found a way around it, or over it..." Vuraria wiped the last of her tears away, and was back to her usual self. Like that, out of the blue. "We better toss that damn thing back where it came from!"</p><p>"But, Vuraria..." Lousine interrupted, still with the manners a princess had. "Do understand that, to the parents, it will look like we're then dragging out a normal baby. We have to do something about that, first." Vuraria yanked herself loose from Ayan and thrashed her arm into the air, towards the mountains, as if she wanted to throw something away. "Then we toss them after it! Problem solved!" Lousine once again started frowning while she put her hands to her sides. "That won't solve any-..."The both of them looked at Albedo, who was chuckling to himself. Not Ayan, because he waved away another spider that edged too close to him from a nearby pole.</p><p>"Easy, you two. Easy. I know of a couple of ways that will force the troll-parents to take back their child." He stretched. "Listen. This is what we need- Write this down, Your Highness..."</p><p>Lousine grabbed her booklet from the floor and wrote down the materials with her charcoal-pencil.</p><p>"An end of rope, a bucket of water, a clump of brown bread, mint-leaves and cheese... I understand that. All good and well, Albedo, but...-" She asked as she put a stripe under all the materials."What in the name of Gröln would we need a hammer for?"Ayan began to grin and his clenched fists shook out of excitement. "We're fighting 'em?" Vuraria blew little flames out of her nose, from pure annoyance. "How about we burn down the place. Just as easy. Trolls are afraid of fire as well, right?"</p><p>Albedo stood up from his not-so-cozy seat in the hay, and wiped the strands of it off of his dark pants. "One, you'll see, and two... No? You three just find the things on the list, and within a few days, the trolls will come save their Changeling-spawn."</p><p>A glimmer of mischief shone in his tired eyes, and the almost-leathery face of the wizard once again pulled itself into a grin. They walked out of the shack, Lousine with the list up front. There was work to be done. </p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. The Plan</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Ayan and the crew finally concoct the plan and gather the necessary materials. Time grows ever thinner as the trolls grow ever hungrier, and so does the Changeling...</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The cheese, the rope, the bread and the bucket were found with ease. The mint took a little while longer, since it had to be delivered all the way from the Goblin City of Oglozarm. But, eventually, that too was in their possession. The only problem now was the hammer.<br/>
Every hammer they found and showed to Albedo was rejected. “Too small. Too woody. We need a big, firm hammer.”<br/>
“But where will we find a hammer that is suitable for this task?” Lousine said to that. She had put a stripe through five of the six items already. Only ‘Hammer’ was littered with crosses.<br/>
“A hard, stone hammer.” Was all Albedo said. “To lure the troll-parents.” They were outside, and were observing the reindeer while Albedo prepared a spell for the unwitting family. The spell would make the snow melt between the grass and the moss, so that the reindeer had more to eat.<br/>
“Then think about it a little,” Ayan said. He slowly approached one of the reindeer to pet it. Bayo stood next to him. He liked the company of the reindeer. “Who got hard hammers? Human people don’t, and gnomes don’t either… I think. Besides, I doubt these hammers would fit.” And he squished his thumb and index-finger together, to picture how small the hammer would be. “If we need a good hammer, we should go to the dwarves!”<br/>
“See here, Ayan finally decides to use his head.” Lousine said, meaning it more as a joke. She did make a note. With curly letters she wrote ‘Dwarven?’ above ‘Hammer’. Ayan laughed about this, but that didn’t seem to bother the others much. Vuraria had walked away once again.<br/>
“Then we come upon a new problem… The dwarves live on the other side of Phantasia. It’ll take too long.” Lousine looked to Albedo, in the hope that the wizard had an answer. “How much time… How long do we have left?”<br/>
Albedo shook his head. “Not long.” He answered. “Too little.”<br/>
That was a very vague answer for Lousine. “What other option do we have, then?”Ayan was taken aback when the snow began to melt right from under him, wetting his boots. “Hey, what the…” The reindeer hungrily leaned forward to eat, and Bayo joyfully joined them. Ayan then looked at Albedo, and then at the Troll-Mountains, whose dark peeks towered threateningly over them… “We could, uh… Always try it there.”<br/>
Lousine was so alarmed by his offer that she promptly stood up from her seat on the out-of-the-ground-sticking stone and with that, startled the reindeer quite a bit. It thusly took a while for Albedo, who first had to calm the herd with his magic, to speak. But not before Lousine did.</p><p>“If- If you think you will once again pull me along one of your life-threatening danger-filled adventures, Ayan, I’ll-…”</p><p> </p><p>“I don’t believe they’ll be smart enough to know how to make weapons, majesty.” Albedo interrupted calmly, to ease Lousine’s nerves and the reindeer’s alongside it.<br/>
“But, perhaps… They could have a rudimentary club that could be used instead…” Lousine was not happy with this answer, but Ayan was ecstatic. “So we’re going?”How happy Ayan was when Albedo nodded at his question. But Lousine did not let herself be defeated just yet. She knew how greatly and how often Ayan would hurl himself into danger, regardless of who he travelled with, and this time she felt like she would even feel safer near Borti alone than with Ayan and an entire family of trolls.<br/>
“But!” Said Albedo, and almost immediately Ayan’s mood started to melt as fast as the snow on the grass. “It is indeed better if the princess remains here for this. We need two people to remain with the Changeling, and two who will go to the trolls themselves.” Ayan sighed, and could do nothing except agree with the plan.<br/>
“Will you come along, then?” And again, Albedo shook no.<br/>
“I will.” Hummed one of the reindeer. It had black, brushy fur and sharp, pointed antlers. The Vuraria-reindeer brushed against Ayan, who wanted to pet another of them. She looked around to see if Uvitende wasn’t anywhere to be seen and turned back into herself. She kept close to Ayan, who seemed sad that one of the reindeer was now out of petting-reach.<br/>
“But then, what will you suckers do?”“Well, this is my plan.” Albedo grumbled in response. He beckoned the two to come closer so that unfriendly ears would not hear them. “The troll-parents shall wait with eating the human child until the Changeling has done the same to its human-parents. That means that, if we hurry, we might still be on time. Ayan, I want you and Vuraria to search through the Troll-Mountains to find the human child.”<br/>
Ayan nodded, he was getting excited. He balled and shook his fists to release some steam. He had no idea how he and Vuraria would take that child without getting found, but that would be a problem for then, and not now.<br/>
Vuraria raised one of her eyebrows. Infiltrating the mountains would be no problem at all to her. “And… You?”-“The moment you get back, we’ll make the biggest mess that Skiptingr has ever known.” Albedo answered. He grinned widely. “Then we lure the trolls, with said club, and then everything will fall in its place.” </p><p>“Hey there!” Called Uvitende, who walked towards them from between the reindeer. He had Bayo with him, holding his reins.<br/>
Ayan almost wanted to strike a punch at the sudden call, and Vuraria already started to growl before Uvitende said: “I’m guessing he got loose. Am I disturbing something?” “Of course not.” Albedo replied, while kindly shaking his head, again. With a layer of laced innocence he stood up, and waved away the others. “You know what you have to do. Go, the sooner, the better. ” Ayan grabbed his horse back with a short “Thank you”, and he and Vuraria left immediately. Albedo and Lousine looked at them as they went. “And now rests the hope on them, that they find a suitable club…” Lousine prayed.</p><p>The lair of the trolls wasn’t hard to find. While it was hidden deep within the pointy ends of the black mountains and barely visible to the naked eye, the stench made it impossible to miss. Ayan and Vuraria quickly neared the forest’s edge that hugged the foot of the mountains, trunks snapped like twigs forming a rudimentary path. There was the entrance to the lair, leading underground.<br/>
Vuraria had changed her form to that of a dark-haired troll in no-time, and Ayan had his troll-hide cloak, given to him by an old friend in his burned-down village, firm around his shoulders.<br/>
“So,” Vuraria began, going through the plan in her head. “Go inside, find the weapon-thing, find the kid, go outside.” Her gaze pricked onto the entrance while her troll-tail swept the dirtied snow. “Almost too easy, huh?” Ayan gripped the handle of his sword tight. “I think so. Let’s go and then-“<br/>
“-Hey, Ayan?” Vuraria quickly asked, stopping Ayan before he could walk forward. “Yes?”</p><p>“You and that blonde-haired pillow-princess, you two don’t have anything going on, right?” She asked. Ayan laughed about the question and gave her an encouraging pat on her -quite hairy- arm.<br/>
“Pffff, of course not. What do you think? If we had something you’d have already known. Now let’s go!”<br/>
He unhanded Vuraria and approached the sickening stenches of the lair of trolls. “Let’s move. We have to hurry.”</p><p> </p><p>Back inside the house Lousine was making careful notes of the Changeling. She did not say much when the unknowing parents asked her what she was writing, and quickly put away her book when they wanted total a peek. “That is quite an impolite thing to do, mind you.” Albedo said to them, while he observed the odd baby from a safe distance. It growled and chirped and bit through the edges of the crib.<br/>
“He’s teething.” Ikna said, and she grabbed the troll-child out of the crib and danced with it through the house. Uvitende joined in soon after. They seemed so happy, and Lousine beheld the two with sadness. If only they knew…<br/>
But Albedo had little time for their joy and her melancholy. With one bony hand he tapped the princess’ shoulder. Worried, he repeated;“He’s teething.”And both of their eyes opened wide. Only a while longer, and it would be old enough to eat them.<br/>
“Yes, exactly!” Said Uvitende, thinking that Albedo’s comment was meant for them. “Isn’t that great?”<br/>
The wizard grinned, uneasy, and stuck up his thumbs. “Wonderful.” But he and Lousine felt the worry press heavily on their heart. The glimmer in the eyes of the Changeling, staring at its surrogate-parents, was the same as that of a wolf, peeking at a lost lamb…</p><p> </p><p>The trolls were as easy to find as their den. All of them slept in one big ‘hall’ in the cave. They quickly snuck past there, and thanks to the overwhelming disgusting scent -or in Vuraria’s case, her disguise-  they did not attract unwanted attention. Trolls were simple beast-folk, so they did not spent much care or attention in building intricate halls, or tight, trap-filled corridors. They used the cave-system like it was.<br/>
It took them thusly a short while of traversing the damp smelly darkness, hidden at the end of a deep, tight tunnel past the hall. They found the ‘nest’, a deepening in the wall stuffed with filthy hay, barred behind a rickety wooden fence, weaved-in with thick roots from the torn trees outside.<br/>
Hay was not the only thing inside the nest. Many a troll youngling lay there, sleeping, some resting in little piles and some on top of one another…<br/>
And one human child.<br/>
It looked filthy, with messed-up, red-ish hair. The child certainly centred the attention in the half-dark of the caves.</p><p>“Gotcha.” Vuraria grumbled, grinning. The troll-young gave her the chills, so she didn’t look at them. “That’s one… But where do they keep their weapons?” Ayan asked, sounding a little softer than Vuraria’s low troll-grumble. He wanted to fight, and his hands itched.<br/>
“Do you think I know? Go ask them or something! Then I’ll open the cage!” Vuraria had just raised her clawed hand to rip the fence apart, before Ayan stopped her.<br/>
-“Hey-hey! Wait a moment! How about you ask, and I will get that kid out. I think it’d rather see a person than another troll.”</p><p>“That’s true.” Grumbled Vuraria. “Alright. I’ll ask. But…-“Ayan sighed and looked up, sounding a bit harder by accident. “‘But’ what?”<br/>
“Are you truly sure you and that blonde one don’t havw-…” Vuraria started, for she was still plagued with uncertainty and suspicion.<br/>
And now Ayan’s hands really started to itch. He restrained himself before he grabbed ahold of the fence, and turned away from Vuraria. “Really, really sure. Now please go find that club!”<br/>
Rumbling in the hall. Oh no. “I think we were a little too loud…”<br/>
“Well, of course, if you constantly start to suspect I got something with the princess…” Ayan complained, out loud this time. He quickly tried to get the fence open with what little light he could see. It was hard. Despite how crude it looked, the fence was very strong.<br/>
Vuraria’a dark tufty troll-tail swept against the ground in an irritated manner. She, like Ayan, was starting to lose her patience. “And if you don’t constantly try to flirt with her while I got my back turned…-“<br/>
“And when do I do that exactly?!” Ayan growled back to her. “Honestly, the most romantic thing I did for her was save her from some bandits!”<br/>
“You Faun-filled sack of…- You said that-“</p><p>“HEEUYYY!”<br/>
Oh no. Too late.<br/>
Rumbling behind them. The Vuraria-troll turned around. Ayan didn’t. He made himself as small as possible, hiding under his cloak, to not be seen.<br/>
Behind them stood a big, bulbous, disgusting troll. Almost as big, bulbous, and disgusting-looking as the Changeling in the crib. This had to be its father.<br/>
“What’s you doing?” Growled the father in his harsh troll-language. Judging by the scuffling coming from the hall, the other trolls were close to waking up as well. Vuraria-troll grinned, showing her stump fangs.<br/>
“Not much,” She said. “Just off to walk a little with the man-child.” She pointed to the sleeping child behind the fence. Her tail swooped hard against Ayan’s troll-hide mantle, but he kept himself hidden.<br/>
“Oh. Keeps quiets then. We’s trying to sleeps.” The father-troll growled in response. He turned around to go back to sleep, but then a proverbial light flared up above his hairy head. He glared at the Vuraria-troll who, despite her façade, started to shiver a little.<br/>
“Buts… Who’s were you’s talking to, then?” Father-troll grumbled. Vuraria-troll gulped down her nerves. “M’self.” And father-troll cocked his head to the side. “About princesses and’s all that’s?”<br/>
Vuraria nodded, and her tail slapped against the cage to signal to Ayan that he’d better hurry.<br/>
“Yeah… And?” The father-troll raised his shoulders. Vuraria stomped towards him to ask something else. “Where’s the clubs and stuff?” Father-troll pointed to a big pile of clubs and torn-off tree-trunks in the middle of the hall, surrounded by half-asleep trolls.<br/>
“There’s… You’s not slapping the child’s, yes? We needs the child’s ’til we gets the sign. You’s steals a child’s yourselves if you’s wants to slaps.”<br/>
Vuraria grinned and grabbed the most firm-looking club from the pile that she could find, and she hoped that none of the trolls present could feel the crippling fear hidden behind tough layers of troll-fur and sinew. Father-troll went back to snooze and the rumbling of the other trolls seemed to have cooled down. Ayan used that time to swiftly cut an opening in the fence with his sharp dagger.<br/>
The child with the red hairs weakly opened its eyes when Ayan pat its arm. “Hm?”“Hey, don’t be spooked. We’re going to bring you back to your parents.” Ayan whispered.<br/>
“Papa and mama?” Said the child, very very softly. Ayan nodded. “Be really quiet, as quiet as you can, yeah? Then we’ll bring you home.” The child seemed to understand this and slowly crawled through the hole in the fence. Vuraria walked around the corner with the big club slung over her shoulder. “Heavy thing…” She grumbled.<br/>
But despite her complaints she grinned to Ayan, who nodded and smiled back. The child, on the other hand, didn’t realise that Vuraria was there to help. She was still in the guise of a troll, after all. The child wriggled itself away from Ayan and back through the hole, behind the fence.<br/>
“Hey- Hey! No no no no no! Pspspspspspsps!” Ayan tried luring the child back with his ‘Pspspspspsps’-ing, like he would with a cat, but that only seemed to result in more ruckus-noises in the hall. The sounds of the child made the other troll-children wake up as well, and they all peeked at Ayan with their beady little eyes before they cried out.<br/>
That woke up the trolls completely. Ayan grinned at Vuraria with considerable unease while he got ripped away from the fence, and was held up upside-down by one of the at-least thirty trolls present. Vuraria only shook her head in a disappointed manner.<br/>
“Fighting it is?”Ayan nodded. “Fighting it is.”</p><p> </p><p>In the province of Phantasia where the winter reigned most of the year, the evening began quick. Skiptingr’s residents had accustomed to this. They worked past the dusk and woke up in the dark to get to work. The nights were thusly not that long for the actual denizens, but for visitors they were almost unbearably long.<br/>
However, this gave Albedo and Lousine the time to work out their plan. By the time Ayan and Vuraria were gone, they began their work. The bucket of water -which often froze outside of the house- was turned invisible with Albedo’s magic and was placed, attached to the rope, right above the crib. If the parents came in, this way, the water would fall straight onto Borti. The leaves of mint were put in beforehand. When Lousine asked why, Albedo simply chuckled.<br/>
He gave her one of the leaves, and kept one for himself.<br/>
“Trolls hate everything clean and tidy. They’re almost allergic to it. This is one of the things that will break their illusion.”<br/>
Borti, luckily, remained asleep. By the day, no troll was that active, especially an infant. “But why didn’t we give Ayan and Vuraria any? Or Uvitende and Ikna?”<br/>
Albedo shook his head disapprovingly. “They would have been attacked. Both of them.”<br/>
The bread and the cheese were to play their part as well. Alongside the wall, outside and in, Albedo made a trail of breadcrumbs and cheese-bits which a swarm of rats would deem a feast. “Trolls love rats as snacks. That’s also something that will foil the illusion.”<br/>
“But won’t they simply ignore the behaviour, like with the biting of the crib?” Lousine asked, who again started taking notes. “To a degree. If it becomes too much, and it will, then the parents will fully see through the disguise. Now all we have to do is wait for Ayan and Vuraria…” Albedo sat down on one of the benches, his arms crossed. He had a slight smirk on his face, meaning he wasn’t done. He had one last trick prepared. </p><p> </p><p>A noise that sounded like it came from the underworld’s bowels hammered and roared through the tunnels of the troll-lair. And almost directly after, a tall, black-haired troll stomped out, followed by a small, curly-haired boy with ripped clothing and a troll’s mantle, who carried an even smaller, red-haired child. They ran out of the caves and into the wide-open world once more.<br/>
Ayan and Vuraria had beaten down the lion’s share of them, grabbed the panicking child, and sped away. Two trolls chased after them, with four or five of the raging beasts with sweeping tails trailing behind. Ayan and Vuraria ran between the trees, that were pulled out of the ground, slammed away or broken in half behind them. They didn’t see it happen, but they heard the snap of the branches, and felt the footprints of the stampede being pounded into the earth.<br/>
They ran head over heels, as fast as they could, but the club they carried was heavy and the trolls came closer and closer…<br/>
“There! The village!” Ayan shouted, almost out of breath. In the distance were Uvitende’s reindeer, eating, until they reared their heads to the trolls and ran off in a wild panic. And there, between the reindeer, was a long and familiar face…<br/>
“Well I’ll be-… Bayo walked back here! He ran off again!” Ayan thought out-loud. He quickly looked around. They couldn’t just return to the village, not like this. They had a gaggle of trolls at their heels, and Vuraria still had the form of a troll. One holding a human child, at that! “Quick,” He wheezed to the Vuraria-troll. “Give me the club.”“WHAT?!” Vuraria shouted back. She stood still, which surprised the trolls so much that the five in the back clashed against the two in the front, loudly and painfully, like a bunch of tall rocks.<br/>
“Give me the club!” Ayan repeated himself, angrier this time. “Then you can change into a… Reindeer, or something. Anything, really! Get the child to the village! I’ll meet you there, yeah?”<br/>
Vuraria-troll turned around, and looked at the others, who were still picking themselves up behind her. Then she grumbled. “I’ve got a better idea.” She turned back into herself, the dragon-girl with the warm coat -but now with some more scrapes and bruises-, she whistled on her fingers and held the child up. It looked around with terrified eyes. “Stay calm.” She growled. “Else you won’t ever see your parents again.” The whistling caught Bayo’s attention, and he ran straight through the herd towards Vuraria. The trolls, back on their feet, cautiously looked at what the children were doing.<br/>
Vuraria put the child on the saddle, climbed on it herself and made Bayo run. She left the club behind in the snow. Bayo ran as fast as a horse could, and the trolls barely had time left to think over their next step before Ayan grabbed the club out of the snow and used it to completely ravage these trolls to a pulp.<br/>
Five of them he took down, but the ugliest of the two, he kept upright. Those two looked the most like Borti, the Changeling. He jumped backwards, stuck out his tongue, and yelled: “Catch me if you can!” Then he ran back to the village. Vuraria had disappeared from vision a while ago. The troll-parents got quite offended by his nerve alone, and saw almost no more reasonable an option in their beastly brains than to chase after the bold, insulting boy.<br/>
Despite how stocky they were built, they were fast. They quickly caught up to Ayan in the chase. Time after time Ayan kept them at a distance by swinging the club, and then kept on running. He could already hear the people of the village screaming outside. But right before he reached the gate, one of the trolls gripped him tight by his waist, trying to eat him in one bite. They barked, snarled and roared at him in their troll-tongues: “THAT MEATS WAS OURS!”<br/>
“You- You wish!” Ayan responded. He breathed in deep and tensed every muscle he had in his body. He kicked the troll-mother who was gripping him hard against the mouth, as hard as he could, and the mother let go of him while yowling in pain. Those few moments that he fell through the air, Ayan hit with the giant club against the bell with the golden sun. The sound of the bell was incredibly loud, and it caused the troll-parents to back away from the gate, their fat hands covering their almost invisible ears. Ayan landed hard in the snow, but scrambled back up as fast he could and ran to the familiar house, inside the village. He saw the human-child half-asleep in front of the door, and before Ayan could ask himself why, two hands roughly pulled him behind the house. </p><p>“Albedo?”<br/>
“Silence! Else the entire plan might fall apart!” Albedo hissed back. He let Ayan go, and Ayan saw that Lousine and Vuraria were hidden here as well. Bayo was eating hay near them, also behind the house. “Uh… Alright then.” Ayan let the big club rest against the roof-wall and leaned around the corner to take a peek, finally able to catch his breath. “What do we do now?” Lousine smiled as she sketched the outline of the club. “Now we wait.” She saw how battle-damaged Ayan was, with more tears and holes than he had clothes on his body. “Are you alright?” Ayan smiled. Now his fatigue really started to catch up with him. His muscles felt sour. Vuraria, too, looked exhausted and scarred. “I’m fine. A bit cold.”Albedo raised a finger to silence them. “Reminiscing can happen later. I think I heard something.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Expect the final chapter VERY soon, it's already finished. -Orgro</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. The Den</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The plan comes to fruition, but perhaps differently than they had planned... The time for their plan does not slow, nor does Borti grow ever less hungry...</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I apologise first and foremost for the horrible delay. I've been feeling awful and unproductive for multiple reasons and could not get any creative work done. But I'm trying now. Just remind me from time to time.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Uvitende was, after having to calm down his reindeer-herd on his own, pretty displeased. He walked back home, under the gate. He had to find the wizard that should've helped him with this. Those big, deep footprints in the snow, that stopped in front of the gate and turned away right in front of it, were very suspicious...</p><p>When he got closer to his house he saw something laying on his doorstep...</p><p>"Ikna!" He yelled out. "Ikna! Look!" His wife, who was busy chatting with other wives in the town-square, came running to him shortly after. "What's wrong?"<br/>"Look!" Uvitende picked up the child, who was sleeping peacefully. Its face was a bit red from the cold, but it was alive. Albedo, behind the house, was overjoyed that the sleeping-charm he cast on the child was so potent, but he held his breath to not get noticed.</p><p>"By the grace of Gröln... Another child! Borti would love that!" The pair quickly took the child, their own child, inside.</p><p>The door opened...</p><p>And with the tug of the rope the invisible bucket emptied over the crib of the changeling. Clean! Borti started to wail, causing the human child to wake up. It blinked, waking up from the charm, and looked around. <br/>"Mama?" The child asked. "Papa?"</p><p>Ikna hurried to the crib to get the changeling out. The crib smelled like mint, which Borti did not seem to like at all. The troll-baby snorted, sputtered and yelled and violently waved its little fists around. "Now-now, young man, children have to get clean around here as well!" She held Borti tight and pat him on the head until he once again growled and blabbered. The human-child hid away from the troll.</p><p>"He's learning his first words." Uvitende said, with a slight smile that quickly faded. "That's nice. But where did that water come from? And where's that wizard?" He was still quite unhappy about that. "That man promised me he'd tend to the herd. But thanks to those noises outside, doing that took me almost an hour."</p><p>"I don't know where he went." Ikna replied. She put both of the children on the floor to dry the crib. "They said they had to leave quickly, and packed their things without saying anything. They have been gone for a while."</p><p>Uvitende was not pleased with this answer. He patted the snow off of his pants and walked in circles through the house. The Changeling-child and the human child first stared into the room with a bit of dazed confusion, before Borti smelled something and crawled towards it, drooling and snorting. The trail of bread and cheese had indeed lured some rats to the house, and the Changeling could hear those rats. They crawled between the walls and under the floor, and the human child stared in both awe and shock as Borti started ripping into the walls with its fat little arms to get to the rats.</p><p>"Hey, what in the-" Uvitende picked Borti back up, right at the moment where it had gotten a fat, tasty rat. The human child wobbled to its feet and tried crawling into the crib, afraid of the beast.</p><p>"Ikna, is it time for the bottle already?"</p><p>Outside, Albedo was gnashing his teeth together in frustration. "Not good, not good... We need more." Vuraria sighed. "More what? I'm not going into one of those caves again, if that's what you might think." Albedo shook his old head in response. "We need more troll-behaviour."</p><p>Ayan looked up. Lousine had given him one of her mantles, which Vuraria begrudgingly accepted, especially since she too received one. "And uh... How do you think we should do that?"</p><p>Albedo grinned deep, then looked at Lousine with a dead-serious face. "Your highness, you were baptised, were you not?" Lousine, a bit offset by such an unexpected question, looked up. "W-Why, yes... But why so?" Albedo crouched down and pulled a small, sharp knife out of his coat. Vuraria's eyes opened wide. "Hey-hey... It's not time to gut a pig, isn't it?" Lousine shot her an angry glare, but all Vuraria did was look worried. Would it not be a joke?<br/>"Hurry up." Albedo warned. "We don't have much time. And the only thing I need is one drop of blood." Lousine, who almost wanted to give him her hand, pulled it back quickly, now looking even more upset than ever. "A-And why is that, then?" Albedo impatiently tapped his finger against the knife. "If there is one thing trolls love more than anything else it is the blood of a religious person. One single drop is enough to drive them into a frenzy. If this does not make the changeling unveil itself, I do not know what will. Please."</p><p>Lousine tried to make the best of this, but she simply didn't dare, and she shook her head while holding her hand tightly.</p><p>"You know I cannot stand the sight of blood, especially when it is mine."</p><p>Ayan looked at Albedo, raising his eyebrow. "What about, if we just quickly push one of us into a lake..."</p><p>"Now is not the time for jokes, Ayan! We need that blood, else that family or maybe even this whole village will be ruined!" Hissed Albedo. Vuraria silently beheld the arguing group. Normally, she would've loved to join, but now she said and did nothing.</p><p>Then, suddenly, a terribly loud barrage of noises came from inside the house. Albedo, Ayan and Lousine quickly peeked around the corner. There was Uvitende, walking off -or rather, stomping- and behind him he dragged...</p><p>"The Changeling!" Ayan blurted out spontaneously. Albedo quickly pushed his head back behind the house, but Uvitende had noticed them already. "Weren't you lot supposed to be long gone?" He called out. Albedo quickly appeared from behind the house, raising his shoulders. "We must've forgotten something."</p><p>"You can take this horrible thing with you while you're at it!" Uvitende replied angrily while he held up the screaming, growling monster-baby. Stumps of little teeth were now clearly seen in its mouth, and around it... Red.</p><p>"It's unbelievable that we've lived for this long with such a monster in our midst! This thing can go right back where it belongs!" Albedo walked alongside the father until they reached the town's gate. There was the club still, surrounded by deep footprints of various sizes. The gate was still big enough for a man on a horse, but a troll could not -and would not- cross under it willingly.</p><p>That's why Albedo now, with his magic, levitated the big club and let it hit against the iron bell. The Changeling cried but there, in the distance, there was the thunder of large footsteps.</p><p>"Spawn of brute evil that they are," Cursed Uvitende out loud. "May Görne get them all, I say." He put the child in the snow outside the gate and stomped off. "Thanks for all the help, magic-man!" It sounded more like an insult than a real compliment. But Albedo lost care for that. He waited outside until he could see the trolls.</p><p>The two giant fur-covered beasts with the twisty tails scooped their child off of the ground while they stuffed branches of spruce into their ears to stop the noise, and Albedo shook his head while he looked at them disapprovingly.</p><p>"No more doing that." He grumbled to them in their troll-tongue. The couple seemed to understand this and shook their heads and their tails.</p><p>Then they left to where they'd come from; The mountains with the dark peaks.</p><p>When Uvitende got back to his house he saw the three children stand around his wife, and their real child safe in her arms. One of her arms was covered in white cloth. What had happened was, Borti had actually bitten her when it smelled the scent of blood from somewhere outside the house. Albedo, too, walked back to the group.</p><p>"All's well that ends well, then?"</p><p>The real Borti held out their hand to Ayan and Vuraria, recognising who they got saved by.</p><p>"I... Think so. I am getting kind of hungry again, though." Ayan said, patting his stomach while he let the child grab his finger.</p><p>"What are they doing here?" Uvitende complained. But once Ikna told to him what the children had told to her, he began to mellow down.</p><p>"From the troll-holes themselves... And getting out of them alive, at that. That takes some guts." He said, as he smiled and walked inside his house to get them some food.</p><p>"Our deepest apologies for what the damages we have caused to your house during this, madam and sir." Lousine said, proper and courteous. Ikna gave Lousine a friendly pat on the shoulder, something the princess was not very accustomed to. "Don't fret it, child. If you hadn't done this, imagine what that monster would have done to us..." She pulled an uneasy grimace before giving Borti another big hug.</p><p>Ayan did give Ikna's wounded arm a worried look. "Hope that won't get infected or something. Trolls carry some nasty diseases." But after a short check by Albedo and a healing spell or two, that too wasn't something to worry about any longer.</p><p>"I do not wish to seem ungrateful," Albedo said, shortly after they'd had a meal. "But I think that, should we wish to reach the Gnome-kingdom in time, we might have to leave soon." He stood up and wiped his bearded mouth clean. Borti was peacefully sleeping in the clean crib.</p><p>"So be it. I wish you all the blessing of Gröln for what you've done for us."</p><p>They wholeheartedly said their farewells to each other. The only one not participating as much was Vuraria. She sat outside, where Bayo was too, rubbing over her bruises and cuts and brooding about something. By how fast everything went no one yet stood still about why the Changeling got its flash of rage, despite Lousine not having spilled one drop. <br/>But, Vuraria knew that she herself was a princess too. The others did not.</p><p>From another land, and baptised another way, but a princess nonetheless. When would she tell this to her friends? She didn't know. But not yet. For now, at least. Maybe.</p><p>When they left the village Uvitende and Ikna waved after them, with Borti in their arms, staring at them. Ayan and Albedo were walking, right through the snow. Bayo walked too, and he was carrying Lousine in the front of the saddle and Vuraria on the back. Together they went forth, in search of the kingdom of the Gnomes.</p><p>On the way, Ayan gave Vuraria a short pull on her warm coat. "Hey, why weren't you there for the meal? It was delicious!"</p><p>"Wasn't hungry." She said, and that was all. She turned around so that she could look at the way they've come. Ayan decided not to pester her with questions. Girl-problems weren't his problems... Or something like that. He led Bayo with the reins in his hand over the route that Albedo marked out for them, and so they silently traveled through the seemingly-endless snow of Skiptingr.</p><p>In-between the broken trees three pairs of troll-eyes watched them leave. Little Bortbyting waved.</p>
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